⚠️Only 10 days until Easter!✨
Easter advent post #23
What is it that most animates you? That gets you most excited and fired up? Most captivates your heart and thoughts and affections?
Is it…
politics?
a Netflix series?
a sports team? (with ⚾ season kicking off, I resonate with this one!)
your physical health / appearance?
Or is it…resurrection?
It’s quite apparent from studying Acts (such as the passage spotlighted here) and the historical record of the early church that Christ’s resurrection is THE story they were most passionate about sharing. It wasn’t just something they knew about, nor was it merely something they celebrated once a year (or even once a week). No, it defined them; they couldn’t stop talking about it!
Today, our churches largely suffer from what you might call acute resurrection illiteracy. By and large, we don’t understand why Jesus emerging from that grave all those many centuries ago connects to our lives and our hope today. My theory is that this is not just sad and theologically regrettable, but ultimately it’s detrimental to our thinking and our churches’ health.
We need to better understand why the Easter story completely transformed the world, and why it matters so much not just to the Christian church overall but also to your and my own life and future.
When we don’t have Christ and his life and resurrection on the forefront of our minds and in the middle of our hearts, then (from my experience) other inferior / myopic stories will swoop in. We will get excited about other things. We’ll place our hope and emotions in other places.
But, as exciting as that latest fictional series may be, or how wonderful your favorite team’s season is going (go Rangers!), or how monumental or aggravating this or that political headline feels, I guarantee the resurrection story is so far superior and (at the end of the day) so much more important.
May this Resurrection Sunday be a wakeup call for all of us to draw inspiration from Christ’s risen life and not be illiterate regarding this all-important event!